Table 3.
Comparison of demographic and clinical characteristics of patients based on tic severity
| Patients with mild tics (n = 76) |
Patients with moderate to severe tics (n = 43) |
P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gender (Male)a | 55 (72.4%) | 34 (79.1%) | 0.41 |
| Age (years) at symptom onset, mean (range)b | 6.9 (1.2–14.5) | 7.9 (1.3–14.3) | 0.07 |
| Age (years) at diagnosis, mean (range)b | 7.9 (1.7–17.2) | 9.1 (2.1–17.4) | 0.08 |
| Time interval (months) between symptom onset and diagnosis, mean (range)b | 12.9 (0.25–96) | 13.9 (0.25–132) | 0.81 |
| Subtypes of tic disordera | |||
| Provisional tic disorder | 59 (77.6%) | 33 (76.7%) | 0.91 |
| Chronic motor or vocal tic disorder | 6 (7.9%) | 2 (4.7%) | 0.49 |
| Tourette syndrome | 11 (14.5%) | 8 (18.6%) | 0.55 |
| Initial tic symptoms | |||
| Motor ticsa | 38 (50%) | 14 (32.6%) | 0.06 |
| Vocal ticsc | 4 (5.3%) | 4 (9.3%) | 0.45 |
| Motor + vocal ticsa | 34 (44.7%) | 25 (58.1%) | 0.16 |
| Presence of neuropsychiatric comorbiditiesa | 21 (27.6%) | 16 (37.2%) | 0.27 |
| Tics are noticeable to strangersa | 38 (50%) | 31 (72.1%) | 0.01 |
| Tics interfere with functioninga | 24 (31.6%) | 30 (69.8%) | < 0.05 |
aChi-square test was used
bIndependent t-test was used
cFisher’s exact test was used